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781 lines
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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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**** ****
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WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
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BY
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CHARLES WATTS
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(Vice-President of the National Secular Society).
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LONDON:
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WATTS & CO., 17, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, E.C.
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**** ****
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WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND
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SOCIAL REFORMER?
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ALTHOUGH Thomas Carlyle has said that "in these days it is
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professed that hero-worship has gone out and finally ceased,"
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thousands of the professed followers of Christ idolize his memory
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to such an extent that they appear to be entirely oblivious of any
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defect either in his character or in his teachings. They regard
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their hero as having been the very embodiment of truth, virtue, and
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perfection; and those persons who are compelled to doubt the
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correctness of these assumptions are regarded by orthodox believers
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as most unreasonable and perverse members of society. Probably the
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principal cause why such erroneous and extravagant notions are
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entertained of one who, according to the New Testament, was very
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little, if at all, superior to other religious heroes can be
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accounted for by the fact that the worshippers of Christ were
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taught in their childhood to reverence him as an absolutely perfect
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character, and as being beyond criticism. Thus youthful impressions
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resulted in fancied creations which, in matured life, have been
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accepted as realities. The Rev. James Cranbrook recognized this
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truth, for in the preface to his work, 'The Founders of
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Christianity' (page 5), he observes: "Our own idealizations have
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invested him (Jesus) with a halo of spiritual glory, that by the
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intensity of its brightness conceals from us the real figure
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presented in the Gospels. We see him, not as he is described, but
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as the ideally perfect man our own fancies have conceived. But let
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any one sit down and critically analyses the sayings and doings
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ascribed to Jesus in the Gospels -- let him divest his mind of the
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superstitious fear of irreverence, and then ask himself whether all
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those sayings and doings are in harmony with the highest wisdom
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speaking for all ages and races of mankind, and with the
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conceptions of an perfect human nature, and I am mistaken if he
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will not find a very great deal he will be forced to condemn."
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Even the sons of Labor, the apostles of Democracy, and the
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advocates of Socialism appear disposed to adopt Jesus as their
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Patron Saint. Conjectures are being constantly made by professed
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modern reformers as to what the Carpenter of Nazareth would say
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upon the many political and social questions that agitate the
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public mind in this the latter half of the nineteenth century.
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These hero-worshippers seem to overlook the apathy of Jesus in
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respect to the evils of his own time. Of course, it is not
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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1
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WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
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difficult for an impartial observer to learn why the name of Christ
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is invoked to support the various schemes that are now put forward
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to aid the regeneration of society. However little Christianity is
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practiced among us, it is extensively professed, and it is thought
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by many a virtue to assume a belief, whether there are sufficient
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grounds for doing so or not. This slavish adherence to fashion is
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an undignified prostration of mental freedom and independence, and
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it is also a fruitful source of the perpetuation of error. My
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purpose in examining the claims set up for Jesus as a political and
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social reformer is to ascertain if the records of his life, doings,
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and teachings justify such claims. If Jesus were judged as an
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ordinary man, living nearly two thousand years ago, my present task
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would be unnecessary. If we assume that such a man once lived, and
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that what he said and did is accurately reported, he should, in my
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opinion, be considered as a youth possessing but limited education,
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surrounded by unfavorable influences for intellectual acquirements,
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belonging to a race not very remarkable for literary culture,
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retaining many of the failings of his progenitors, and having but
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little regard for the world or the things of the world. Viewed
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under these circumstances, I could, while excusing many of his
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errors, recognize and admire something that is praiseworthy in the
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life of "Jesus of Nazareth." But when he is raised upon a pinnacle
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of greatness, as an exemplar of virtue and wisdom, surpassing the
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production of any age or country, he is then exalted to a position
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which he does not merit, and which, to my mind, deprives him of
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that credit which otherwise he would, perhaps, be entitled to.
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The contentions which it is my purpose to dissipate are: that
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Jesus was a political and social reformer, and that his alleged
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teachings contain the remedies for the wrongs of modern society.
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Before directly dealing with these points it ma be necessary to
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glance at the various aspects of reform that have, at different
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times in our national history, been presented to the community;
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also to briefly consider the nature of the required reforms, and
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some of the principal methods that have been adopted to secure
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them.
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In quite primitive ages important struggles took place to
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establish greater equality in the conditions of life. In the time
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of Moses, according to the Bible, the land, for instance, was not
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merely the subject of "tracts for the times," but the laws and
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regulations relating to it were practically dealt with. It did not,
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however, cease to be property, and its inheritance was recognized
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as a rightful thing. The stock-in-trade of many modern reformers is
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the denunciation of those who "add house to house, field to field,
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and grind the faces of the poor." If this condemnation is one of
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the many features of Socialism, then Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel
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may, in this particular, be fairly termed Socialists -- a name
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foreign to their language and to the ideas of their day.
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The contention with some is, that Christ was a successor to
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all these prophets, that he took the same kind of objection as they
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did to the then existing state of things, and that he used the same
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form of speech in denouncing them. The general reply to this is,
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that Christ was, if anything only a prophetic reformer, not a real
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one. In proof of this many facts in his alleged history may be
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cited. For instance, he did not rescue the land from the control of
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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2
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WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
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the Romans, who held it from the people very much in the same way
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as landholders do now he did not attempt to render any aid to the
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laborers of Rome, who in his day were resisting the injustice of
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the capitalists he did not deliver his brethren of "the royal
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house" from their foreign rulers; he did not redeem the Jews from
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their social evils, or restore justice to their nation. In a word,
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he entirely failed to do the reforming work that was expected of
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him. About the year 1825 the "Christian Socialists of London"
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called special attention to the question of land as regulated by
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Moses, and the living in common by the early Christians; but no
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practical issue arose out of the discussion. From that period down
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to the present the same subject has been more or less agitated, and
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still the matter is very far from being settled. Now, if it is
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alleged that Christ sought to bring about a just settlement of the
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land problem, then the existence of the present oppressive land
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laws proves that he failed, and that his most devout followers have
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been equally unfortunate. If Christ had been a practical reformer,
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We should not have in our midst the deplorable injustice, the
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wrongs, and the inequalities that now afflict society. These evils
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and drawbacks -- the growth of centuries during which Christianity
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was in power -- will doubtless be lessened, if not altogether
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destroyed; but the work will be achieved by a moral revolution,
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inaugurated and conducted by men who will possess ability and
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experience that it is evident Jesus never had.
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It must be borne in mind that there are two kinds of
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revolution -- one that is gradual and intellectual, and therefore
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useful; the other that is sudden, born of passion, and therefore
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often useless as an important factor in securing permanent reforms.
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We know that every change of thought, or condition of things,
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involves a revolution which, if controlled by reason and regulated
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by the lessons of experience, must aid rational progress, and tend
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to build up a State, and secure its permanence. But there is
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another kind of revolution, which is sought to be produced by
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Nihilism and Anarchism, both of which aim at the destruction of the
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State. I am not in favor of either of these "isms," believing, as
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I do, that in our present condition of society some form of
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government is necessary. Law and order, based upon the national
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will, and the principle of justice, appear to me to be essential in
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any scheme that is accepted for the purpose of furthering the
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political and social progress of the world. Then we have Socialism,
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which concerns itself with economic, ethical, political, and
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industrial questions. The principal subject, however, dealt with by
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Socialists is the accumulation and distribution of wealth. State
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Socialism dates from the time of the eminent French writer, Claude,
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H. Count de St. Simon, whose works were published in 1831. He tried
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to secure the amelioration of the condition of the poor, and aimed
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at the organization of labor and the distribution of the fruits of
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industry, upon the principle of every man being rewarded according
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to his works. Socialism is, in fact, an attempt (whether it is the
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best that could be made is with some persons a debateable point) to
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regulate the social relations, making them more equal than they are
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at present, either by individual combination, by municipal or
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cooperative action, by a philanthropic policy of the Church, or by
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the control of the State. This last phase of the Socialistic scheme
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means the complete regulation by law of the equality of
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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3
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WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
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individuals, the State being the owner of the land, and of all the
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instruments of industry that are at present possessed by
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individuals, public companies, etc., who now regulate, in their own
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interest, production and distribution.
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Having thus briefly stated the general conceptions and aims of
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political and social reformers, the next step is to inquire in what
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relation Jesus stands to any or all of them. Of course there is
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only one source of information upon the subject at our command --
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that of the four Gospels. From these it will not be difficult to
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demonstrate that Jesus was no mundane reformer. Although he was
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surrounded by poverty, slavery, oppression, and mental degradation,
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he made no effort to rid society of these curses to humanity. As
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John Stuart Mill observes, in his work upon Liberty (pp. 28, 29),
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in referring to Christian morality: "I do not scruple to say of it
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that it is, in many important points, incomplete and one-sided, and
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that, unless ideas and feelings, not sanctioned by it, had
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contributed to the formation of European life and character, human
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affairs would have been in a worse condition than they now are."
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Professor Huxley, in the Nineteenth Century, No. 144, pp.
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178-186, point; out that Christians have no right to force their
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idealistic portraits of Jesus on the unbiased scientific world,
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whose business it is to study realities and to separate fiction
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from fact. The Professor's words are: "In the course of other
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inquiries, I have had to do with fossil remains, which looked quite
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plain at a distance, and became more and more indistinct as I tried
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to define their outline by close inspection. There was something
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there -- something which, if I could win assurance about it, might
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mark a new epoch in the history of the earth; but, study as long as
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I might, certainty eluded my grasp. So has it been with me in my
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efforts to define the grand figure of Jesus as it lies in the
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primitive strata of Christian literature. Is he the kindly,
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peaceful Christ depicted in the catacombs? Or is he the stern judge
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who frowns above the altar of Saints Cosmas and Damianus? Or can he
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be rightly represented in the bleeding ascetic broken down by
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physical pain of too many medieval pictures? Are we to accept the
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Jesus of the second or the Jesus of the fourth Gospel as the true
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Jesus? What did he really say and do? and how much that is
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attributed to him in speech and action is the embroidery of the
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various parties into which his followers tended to split themselves
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within twenty years of his death, when even the three-fold
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tradition was only nascent? .... If a man can find a friend, the
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hypostasis of all his hopes, the mirror of his ethical ideal, in
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the Jesus of any or all of the Gospels, let him live by faith in
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that ideal. Who shall, or can, forbid him? But let him not delude
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himself that his faith is evidence of the objective reality of that
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in which he trusts. Such evidence is to be obtained only by the use
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of the methods of science as applied to history and to literature,
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and it amounts, at present, to very little."
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Equally emphatic are the remarks of John Vickers, the author
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of The New Koran, etc., who, in his work, The Real Jesus, on
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pp. 160, 161, writes: "Many popular preachers at the present
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day are accustomed to hold Jesus up to admiration as the
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special friend of the poor -- that is, as the benefactor of
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the humble working class, and their representations to this
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effect are doubtless very generally believed. But a greater
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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4
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WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
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delusion respecting him than this can scarcely be imagined;
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for, however much he may have been disposed to favor those who
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forsook their industrial calling and led a vagrant life, his
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preaching and the course which be took were prejudicial to all
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who honestly earned their bread. He did nothing with his
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superior wisdom to develop the resources of the country and
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provide employment for the poor; all his efforts were directed
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to the unhinging of industry, the diminution of wealth, and
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the promotion of universal idleness and beggary. It was no
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part of his endeavor to see the peasant and the artisan better
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remunerated and more comfortably housed, for he despised
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domestic comforts as much as Diogenes, and believed that their
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enjoyment would disqualify people for obtaining the
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everlasting pleasures of Paradise. A provident working man who
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had managed to save enough for a few months' subsistence he
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would have classed with the covetous rich, and required him to
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give away in alms all that he had treasured as the
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indispensable condition of discipleship. On one occasion he is
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said to have distributed food liberally to the hungry
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multitude; but the food was none of his providing, since he
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was himself dependent on alms. Moreover, the recipients of his
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bounty were not a band of illfed laborers returning from work,
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not a number of distressed farmers who had suffered heavy
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losses from murrain or drought, but a loafing crowd who had
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followed him about from place to place, and spent the day in
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idleness. Such bestowment of largess would only tend to
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produce a further relaxation of industrial effort; it would
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induce credulous peasants to throw down their tools and follow
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the wonder-working prophet for the chance of a meal; they
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would see little wisdom in plodding at their tasks from day to
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day, like the ants and the bees, if people were to be fed by
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wandering about trustfully for what should turn up, as the
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idle, improvident ravens (Prov. vi. 6; Luke xii. 24),"
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Many eminent Christian writers maintain that Jesus was a
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social reformer, because he is represented as having been in favor
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of dispensing with the private ownership of property, and also of
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people living together, enjoying what is called "a common repast."
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Professor Graetz, in the second volume of his able 'History of the
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Jews,' devotes a chapter to the social practices which prevailed at
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the time when Jesus is alleged to have lived. On page 117 he states
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that Christianity was really an offshoot from the principles held
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by the Essenes, and that Christ inherited their aversion to
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Pharisaical laws, while he approved of their practice of putting
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their all into the common treasury. Farther, like them, Jesus
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highly esteemed self-imposed poverty, and despised riches. In fact,
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we are told that the "community of goods, which was a peculiar
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doctrine of the Essenes, was not only approved, but enforced ...
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the repasts they shared in common formed, as it were, the
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connecting link which attached the followers of Jesus to one
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another; and the alms distributed by the rich publicans relieved
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the poor disciples of the fear of hunger; and this bound them still
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more strongly to Jesus." But Graetz also adds that Christ
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thoroughly shared the narrow views held by the Judaeans of his
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time, and that he despised the heathen world. Thus he said: "Give
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not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
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before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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5
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WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
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again and rend you " (Matt. vii. 6). If this is "Christian
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Socialism," it is far from being catholic in its nature. The
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Socialistic element of having "all things in common" was limited by
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Christ to one particular community; it lacked that universality
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necessary to all real social reforms. It was similar to his idea of
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the brotherhood of man. Those only were his brothers who believed
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in him. He desired no fellowship with those who did not accept his
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faith; hence he exclaimed: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast
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forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast
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them into the fire, and they the burned " (John xi,. 6); "I pray
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not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me" (John
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xvii. 9) ; "But he that denieth me before men shall be denied
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before the angels of God (Luke xii. 9); "He that believeth not
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shall be damned" (Mark xvi. 16). This may be the teaching of
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theology, but it is not indicative of a broad humanity, neither
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would it, if acted upon, tend to promote the social welfare of
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mankind.
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Professor Graham, M.A., of Belfast College, contends, in his
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||
work, Socialism: Old and New, that Christ taught "Communism" when
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he preached "Blessed be ye poor," when "he repeatedly denounced"
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the rich, and when he recommended the wealthy young man to
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voluntarily surrender his property to the poor. The Professor also
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says: "In spite of certain passages to the contrary, pointing in a
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different direction, the Gospels are pervaded with the spirit of
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Socialism but be adds: "It is not quite State Socialism, because
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the better society was to be brought about by the voluntary union
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of believers." He admits, however, that "the ideal has hitherto
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been found impossible; but let not any say that it does not exist
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in the Gospels -- that Christ did not contemplate an earthly
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society." Now this last point is just what could be fairly urged,
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if the Gospels were trustworthy. There can be no reasonable doubt
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that the disregard of mundane duties would be the logical sequence
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of acting up to many of the teachings ascribed to Jesus. For
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instance, he said, "My kingdom is not of this world " (John xviii.
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36). "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hatoth his
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life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" (John xii. 25).
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"I am not of the world" (John xvii. 9). "Take no thought for your
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life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your
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body what ye shall put on. ... Take therefore no thought for the
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morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself"
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(Matthew vi. 25, 34). "If an man comes to me and hate not his
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father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and
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sisters, yea, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke
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xiv. 26). "Ever one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or
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sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for
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my name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit
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everlasting life" (Matthew xix. 29). Even the disciple who wished
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to bury his father was advised by Christ to forego that duty of
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affection, for "Jesus said, Follow me; let the dead bury the dead."
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The fact is, Christ was a spiritualiser, and not a social
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reformer. If he had been to his age what Bacon and Newton were to
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theirs, and what Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, and Tyndall have been to
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the present generation; if he had written a book teaching men how
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to avoid the miseries of life; if he had revealed the mysteries of
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nature, and exhibited the beauties of the arts and sciences, what
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||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
6
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||
|
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WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
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an advantage he would have conferred upon mankind, and what an
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important contribution he would have given to the world towards
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||
solving the problems of our present social wrongs and inequalities.
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||
But the usefulness of Jesus was impaired by the idea which he
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entertained, that this world was but a state of probation, wherein
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the human family were to be prepared for another and a better home,
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where "the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest."
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We have thus seen the views of the scientist, the historian,
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||
and the professor, upon the subject under consideration; it will
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||
now be interesting to learn what one of the successors to the
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||
apostles has to say in reference to the same question. B.F.
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||
Westcott, D.D., the present Bishop of Durham, in his work, Social
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||
Aspects of Christianity, says: "Of all places in the world, the
|
||
Abbey, I think, proclaims the social gospel of Christ with the most
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||
touching eloquence. ... if I am a Christian, I must bring within
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the range of my religion every interest and difficulty of man, for
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other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
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Christ."
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||
This is not by any means correct, for many other
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||
"foundations," which have nothing to do with Christ, have been
|
||
laid, and upon them systems, some good and some bad, have been
|
||
built. For instance, there are Individualism, Socialism, material
|
||
standards of progress, unlimited competition, and the application
|
||
of science. These are "other foundations" that men have had apart
|
||
altogether from Christ. But the solution to present social evils,
|
||
Dr. Westeott considers, is to be found only in the Christian faith.
|
||
He says: "We need to show the world the reality of spiritual power.
|
||
We need to gain and exhibit the idea that satisfies the thoughts,
|
||
the aspirations, the aims of men straining towards the light." He
|
||
admits that science has increased our power and resources; but, he
|
||
adds, it "cannot open the heavens and show the glory of God, and
|
||
Jesus standing at the right hand of God." Of course it cannot for
|
||
science has nothing to do with the impossible, or with the wild
|
||
speculations of theology. In the 'Social Aspects of Christianity,'
|
||
as presented by the Bishop, it would be difficult, indeed, to
|
||
recognize the principles of true Socialism. Moreover, as it is
|
||
admitted by him that science has increased our "power and
|
||
resources," it is a proof that Jesus must have been a poor
|
||
reformer, when we remember that he did nothing what ever to aid
|
||
this strong element of modern progress.
|
||
|
||
From the references which I have here made to some of the
|
||
ablest writers of to-day, it will be seen how Jesus is estimated by
|
||
them. I now propose to analyses the various statements which,
|
||
according to the Four Gospels, were uttered by him, that have any
|
||
bearing upon the political and social questions of our time. It
|
||
will then be seen whether Christ has any claim to be considered a
|
||
political and social reformer.
|
||
|
||
That the political views held by Jesus were exceedingly crude
|
||
is evident from the circumstance recorded in Matthew xxii. It is
|
||
there stated that, on finding a coin of the realm bearing the
|
||
superscription of Caesar, Jesus declared that both Caesar and God
|
||
were to have their due. The very pertinent question put by the
|
||
disciples afforded a good opportunity for some sound advice to be
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
7
|
||
|
||
WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
|
||
|
||
given upon the political subjection in which the people to whom
|
||
Christ was talking were living. They were in bondage to a foreign
|
||
power, and were anxious to know if it were "lawful to give tribute
|
||
to Caesar or not." Instead of returning a clear and intelligible
|
||
answer, Jesus replied in words which were evasive and meaningless,
|
||
so far as the information sought for was concerned. If he had any
|
||
desire to alter the then existing political relations, or to
|
||
suggest any improvement, he might have given a practical lesson
|
||
upon the duties and obligations of the ruled to the rulers. Another
|
||
opportunity was lost when, Pilate having asked Christ an important
|
||
question, "Jesus gave him no answer" (John xix. 9).
|
||
|
||
Subsequently, however, Jesus recognized the "divine
|
||
government," for he said: "Thou couldst have no power at all
|
||
against me, except it were given thee from above" (John xix. 11).
|
||
He also, having stated, "My kingdom is not of this world," added:
|
||
"If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight,
|
||
that I should not be delivered to the Jew." Christ's notions of
|
||
government were similar to those of St. Paul, who said: "The powers
|
||
that be are ordained of God. ... and they that resist shall receive
|
||
to themselves damnation" (Romans xiii. 1, 2).
|
||
|
||
Now, in the very face of these scriptural utterances, we have
|
||
men to-day who allege that Christ is their hero of democracy. The
|
||
belief that he ever intended to improve the government of this
|
||
world by secular means is utterly groundless. His negligence in
|
||
this particular cannot be explained away by saying that society was
|
||
not ripe for reform, and that Jesus lacked the power to
|
||
revolutionize the institutions of his time. There is truth, no
|
||
doubt, in the latter allegation, for the power of Christ for all
|
||
practical work seems to have been very limited indeed, He did not
|
||
attempt any political reform, as other men in all ages have done;
|
||
he did not make honest endeavors to inaugurate improvements which,
|
||
under happier circumstances, might have been carried out. There is
|
||
no evidence that Christ ever concerned himself with such reforms as
|
||
civil and religious liberty, the freedom of the slaves, the
|
||
equality of human rights, the emancipation of women, the spread of
|
||
science and of education, the proper use of the land, and the
|
||
fostering of the fundamental elements of human progress. His
|
||
language was: "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
|
||
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly
|
||
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? And why take
|
||
ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they
|
||
grow; they toil not neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you,
|
||
That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
|
||
these. Wherefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which
|
||
to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
|
||
more clothe you, O ye of little faith? But seek ye first the
|
||
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
|
||
added unto you."
|
||
|
||
Christ's declaration that his kingdom was not of this world
|
||
may be taken as a reason why he made no adequate provision for
|
||
secular government; but those who worship him assert that his pain
|
||
is the only one that can be successfully adopted to secure the
|
||
desired reforms, and that he really did contemplate a better state
|
||
of society on earth than the one that then obtained. Where is the
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
8
|
||
|
||
WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
|
||
|
||
evidence that this was so? Not in the New Testament, for it is
|
||
nowhere recorded therein that such was his mission. With him the
|
||
question was: For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the
|
||
whole world and lose his own soul" Even Renan, who is so frequently
|
||
quoted by Christian advocates as extolling Jesus, admits that he
|
||
lacked the qualities of a great political and social reformer. In
|
||
his 'Life of Jesus' Renan says that Christ had "no knowledge of the
|
||
general condition of the world" (p. 78); he was unacquainted with
|
||
science, "believed in the devil, and that diseases were the work of
|
||
demons" (pp. 79, 80) he was "harsh" towards his family, and was "no
|
||
philosopher" (pp. 81-83); he went to excess" (p. 174) he "aimed
|
||
less at logical conviction than at enthusiasm"; "sometimes his
|
||
intolerance of all opposition led him to acts inexplicable and
|
||
apparently absurd" (pp. 274, 275); and "bitterness and reproach
|
||
became more and more manifest in his heart" (p. 278.)
|
||
|
||
But let us further consider what it is said that he taught in
|
||
reference to life's social requirements, and also what was his
|
||
estimate of the world and the things of the world. Under any system
|
||
conducted upon rational principles the first social requirement is
|
||
to provide for sufficient food, clothes, and shelter; for to talk
|
||
of comfort and progress without these requisites is absurd. Now, it
|
||
was about these very things that Jesus, as it has already been
|
||
shown, taught that we should take no thought. In Matthew (e. vi.)
|
||
special reference is made to the Gentiles who did take Thought as
|
||
to the necessities of life; but other people were not to be anxious
|
||
upon the subject, "for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
|
||
need of all these things," and a promise is given that he will
|
||
provide them as he "feedeth" "the fowls of the air." Poverty and
|
||
idleness were essentials to Christ's idea of a social state, as is
|
||
proved by his advice to the rich young man, to whom he said: "If
|
||
thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the
|
||
poor" (Matthew xix. 21). In John (vi. 27) it is also said: "Labor
|
||
not for the meat which perisheth." What wealthy Christian will sell
|
||
what he has and give to the poor, and thus carry out Christ's idea
|
||
of social duties? And if the toiling millions did not labor for
|
||
their meat, they would get but little of it. It is not overlooked
|
||
that Jesus said to the young man, "and follow me"; which meant, I
|
||
presume, that he was to join the Christian society in which they
|
||
had "all things common" (Acts iv.). But this state of existence
|
||
could only be maintained by giving up all one's possessions and
|
||
adding them to the general stock. If all did this, the stock would
|
||
be soon exhausted. And the point here to be noted is, that in
|
||
Christ's scheme no provision is made to provide for a permanent
|
||
mode of living, except by prayer or miracle.
|
||
|
||
Surely it must be obvious to most people that a communion of
|
||
saints, fed directly by God, could not be any solution of the
|
||
social problem for those outside such communities Besides, there is
|
||
little prospect of outsiders being made partakers with the saints,
|
||
unless God the Father draws them unto Christ (John vi. 44); but no
|
||
one can go to the Father except by Christ (.John xiv. 6). Thus our
|
||
chances of admission into the Christian fold are very remote, for
|
||
if we are admitted it must be through Christ, to whom we cannot go
|
||
unless the Father draws us; but then we cannot go to the Father
|
||
except by Christ. This is a theological puzzle, which must be left
|
||
for a "Christian Socialist" to unravel if he can.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
9
|
||
|
||
WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
|
||
|
||
The belief that a social condition of society is sustained by
|
||
an invisible power, where no labor is performed, and where no
|
||
interest is taken in its progress, or in the dignity and personal
|
||
independence of its members, is the height of folly. It implies the
|
||
destruction of all human institutions, and the substitution of a
|
||
"divinely-ordered state of things," such as some of Christ's
|
||
followers allege they are now hourly expecting. Well might the late
|
||
Bishop of Peterborough say: "It is not possible for the State to
|
||
carry out all the precepts of Christ. A State that attempted to do
|
||
so could not exist for a week. If there be any person who maintains
|
||
the contrary, his proper place is in a lunatic asylum"
|
||
(Fortnightly, January, 1890).
|
||
|
||
The Sermon on the Mount, or "in the plain," as stated by Luke
|
||
(vi. 17), has been called the Magna Charta of the kingdom of God,
|
||
proclaimed by Christ, although it has never been made the basis of
|
||
any human government. Its injunctions are so impracticable and
|
||
antagonistic to the requirements of modern civilization that no
|
||
serious attempt has ever been made to put them in practice. It may
|
||
be mentioned that the genuineness of the "Sermon has been boldly
|
||
questioned. Professor Huxley writes: "I am of opinion that there is
|
||
the gravest reason for doubting whether the Sermon on the Mount was
|
||
ever preached, and whether the so-called Lord's Prayer was ever
|
||
prayed by Jesus of Nazareth" (Controverted Questions, p. 415). The
|
||
Professor then gives his reasons for arriving at this conclusion.
|
||
|
||
The Rev. Dr. Giles, in his 'Christian Records, speaking of the
|
||
Sermon on the Mount, says: "There is good ground for believing that
|
||
such a collective body of maxims was never, at any time, delivered
|
||
from the lips of oar Lord"; and Milman declares that scarcely any
|
||
passage is more perplexing to the harmonist of the Gospels than
|
||
this sermon, which, according to Matthew and Luke, appears to have
|
||
been delivered at two different places.
|
||
|
||
Mr. Charles B. Cooper, a very able American writer, aptly
|
||
observes: "If this discourse is so important, as Christians profess
|
||
to believe -- the sum of all the teachings of Jesus, and the
|
||
sufficient source of all morality -- it is curious that Mark and
|
||
John knew nothing about it, and that Luke should dismiss it with
|
||
such a short report. Luke, omitting the larger part of the matter,
|
||
takes only one page to tell what occupies three pages in Matthew;
|
||
and to find any parallel to much of Matthew we have to go to other
|
||
chapters of Luke and to other occasions. In addition to which, they
|
||
disagree as to whether it was given on a mountain or in a plain."
|
||
|
||
Taking a broad view of the teachings as ascribed to Christ, I
|
||
should describe most of them as being the result of emotion rather
|
||
than the outcome of matured reflection. They are based upon faith,
|
||
not upon knowledge, trust in Providence being the cornerstone of
|
||
his system, so far as his fragmentary utterances can be
|
||
systematized. In my opinion, the idea of his being a political and
|
||
social reformer rests upon an entirely mistaken view of the union
|
||
of what are termed temporal and spiritual things. Examples of this
|
||
may be seen in such injunctions as "Love one another" and "Love
|
||
your neighbor as yourself." The first was clearly applicable to the
|
||
followers of Christ, for he expressly states, "By this shall all
|
||
men know that ye are my disciples" (John xiii, 35); and the second
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
10
|
||
|
||
WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
|
||
|
||
command applied only to the Jewish community, not to strangers who
|
||
lived outside. These injunctions did not mean that those who heard
|
||
them were to love all mankind. Christ himself divided those who
|
||
were for him from those who were against him. To the first he said,
|
||
"Come, ye blessed of my father"; to the other, "Depart from me, ye
|
||
cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
|
||
angels."
|
||
|
||
It has always appeared to me to be remarkably strange that
|
||
Christ should be regarded as the exemplar of universal love.
|
||
Neither his own words, nor the conduct of his followers, justify
|
||
such a belief. It is, of course, desirable that a social state of
|
||
society should be based upon love and the universal brotherhood of
|
||
man. This is the avowed foundation of the religion of the
|
||
Positivists, their motto being, "Love our basis, order our method,
|
||
and progress our end"; but no such commendable features are to be
|
||
found in the Gospel of Christ, or in the history of the Church.
|
||
Jesus declared that his mission was only to "the lost sheep of the
|
||
house of Israel" (Matthew xv. 24). Moreover, the conditions of
|
||
discipleship which he imposed would, if complied with, exclude the
|
||
possibility of love among all men (Luke xiv. 26); as would also his
|
||
avowed object of breaking the peace and harmony of the domestic
|
||
circle (Matthew x. 34, 35). It may be said that such are the
|
||
contingencies attending the belief and adoption of a new religion.
|
||
Be it so; but that only shows the futility of the contention that
|
||
Christ established universal brotherhood. It is absurd to argue
|
||
that he did so, when we are told in the Gospels that his mission
|
||
was to the Jews only (Matthew xv. 24); that he would have no
|
||
fellowship with unbelievers (Matthew xv. 26); that he threatened to
|
||
have his revenge upon those who denied him (Matthew x. 33); that he
|
||
instructed his disciples to "go not into the way of the Gentiles,
|
||
and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not" (Matthew x. 5);
|
||
and, finally, that he commanded those disciples, when they were
|
||
about to start on a preaching expedition, that "Whosoever shall not
|
||
receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house
|
||
or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it
|
||
shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the
|
||
day of judgment than for that city" (Matthew x. 14, 15). Shaking
|
||
the dust from the feet, be it remembered, was an Oriental custom of
|
||
exhibiting hatred towards those against whom the act was performed.
|
||
And surely the punishment that it is said was to follow the refusal
|
||
of the disciples' administration was the very opposite of the
|
||
manifestation of love. This accords with the non-loving
|
||
announcement that the lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with
|
||
his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
|
||
know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
|
||
Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
|
||
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power " (2 Thess.
|
||
i. 7, 8, 9).
|
||
|
||
These references ought to be sufficient to convince any one
|
||
that Jesus cannot be reasonably credited with a feeling of
|
||
unqualified love for the whole of the human race. His conduct, and
|
||
the general spirit of his teachings towards those who differed from
|
||
him, forbid such a supposition. His injunctions, if acted upon,
|
||
would annul the influence of the ancient maxim of "doing unto
|
||
others as you would they should do to you." Certainly he failed to
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
11
|
||
|
||
WAS CHRIST A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMER?
|
||
|
||
set a personal example by complying with this rule, as his harsh
|
||
language to those who did not accept his authority amply proves. It
|
||
is reported that Jesus said (Matthew v. 22), "Whosoever shall say
|
||
Thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire"; yet we find him
|
||
exclaiming, "Ye fools, ye fools and blind" (Lake xi. 40; Matthew
|
||
xxiii. 17). He advised others to "Love your enemies, bless them
|
||
that curse you," while he himself addressed those who were not his
|
||
friend's as "hypocrites" (Matthew vii. 5); "ye serpents, ye
|
||
generation of vipers" (Matthew xxiii. 33). We may here apply
|
||
Christ's own words to himself: "I say unto you that every idle word
|
||
that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of
|
||
judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, And by thy
|
||
words thou shalt be condemned" (Matthew xii. 36, 37). In Luke (vi.
|
||
37) he counsels us to "forgive, and ye shall be forgiven"; but in
|
||
Mark (iii. 29) it is stated, "He that shall blaspheme against the
|
||
Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal
|
||
damnation." The unfortunate point here is, that we are not told
|
||
what constitutes blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.
|
||
|
||
From these cases, and there are many more in the Gospels of
|
||
like nature, it is clear that Jesus taught one thing and practiced
|
||
another -- a course of conduct which his followers have not been
|
||
slow to emulate. But such an inconsistent trait of character
|
||
disqualifies those in whom it is found from being the best of
|
||
social reformers. Example is higher than precept.
|
||
|
||
Whatever may be urged in favor of Christ's supposed "spiritual
|
||
kingdom," his teachings have but little value in regulating the
|
||
political and social affairs of daily life, using those terms in
|
||
the modern and legitimate sense, inasmuch as he has given the world
|
||
no practical information upon either the science of politics or of
|
||
sociology. The affairs of this world had but little interest with
|
||
Christ. With him preeminence was given to the soul over the body.
|
||
We are not to fear him who can kill the body only, but rather fear
|
||
him "who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
||
|
||
The Bank of Wisdom is a collection of the most thoughtful,
|
||
scholarly and factual books. These computer books are reprints of
|
||
suppressed books and will cover American and world history; the
|
||
Biographies and writings of famous persons, and especially of our
|
||
nations Founding Fathers. They will include philosophy and
|
||
religion. all these subjects, and more, will be made available to
|
||
the public in electronic form, easily copied and distributed, so
|
||
that America can again become what its Founders intended --
|
||
|
||
The Free Market-Place of Ideas.
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
12
|
||
|